لِيُكَفِّرَ اللَّهُ عَنهُم أَسوَأَ الَّذي عَمِلوا وَيَجزِيَهُم أَجرَهُم بِأَحسَنِ الَّذي كانوا يَعمَلونَ
So that Allah may absolve them of the worst of what they did, and pay them their reward by the best of what they used to do.
EXEGESIS
There are a few possible meanings for this verse: 1. God will forgive their worst sins, which means that their lesser sins are also forgiven; and He will give the reward of their best actions for all of their good deeds, even though not all of them were up to that level. This is based on an anthropomorphic idea that forgiving lesser sins is ‘easier’ than forgiving more major offences. Thus, one will start by forgiving the lesser sins, and if he gets to the point of forgiving the worst sins, it means that he has forgiven all sins. As with their reward being based on their best deeds, it shows God’s expansive mercy and benevolence. 2. Aswaʾ (the worst) and aḥsan (the best) mean bad and good, respectively, but they are expressed in a superlative form only for emphasis. This is confirmed by other similar verses that simply talk about absolving their evil deeds (not their worst deeds) and rewarding them for their best deeds (not by their best deeds, without the letter bāʾ before aḥsan; 9:121, 29:7, 46:16). There are other places in the Quran where aḥsan (the best) is only a descriptive adjective, intended to emphasise the excellence of something (7:145 and verse 55 of this surah; see also 3:148). 3. The God-wary are most concerned about their worst and most major sins. Thus, the news that Allah may absolve them of the worst of what they did serves to give them assurance and security about what they are most afraid. Otherwise, God will forgive all of their sins. This could also explain why forgiveness of sins is mentioned before payment of reward. 4. Aswaʾ and aḥsan are comparative, not superlative – that is, they mean ‘worse’ (not ‘the worst’) and ‘better’ (not ‘the best’), respectively. Their relatively worse deeds would include all of their sins, which are worse (and the worst) compared to their other deeds. Their relatively better deeds would include all of their obligatory and supererogatory deeds, which are better than their neutral, reprehensible, and forbidden deeds.
EXPOSITION
Verses 34-35 discuss the reward of the God-wary and virtuous individuals in the hereafter. These two qualities – God-wariness (taqwā) and virtuousness and doing good (iḥsān) – were already introduced and emphasised in verse 10; a point that helps to see the flow of the chapter. Their reward consists of two aspects: 1. They will be near their Lord, which refers to their spiritual proximity and elevation. 2. They will have whatever they wish, which shows that their mere will of a pleasure is sufficient for its actualisation; there is no need for any preparation, means, or preliminary steps, as opposed to things in this world. These qualities and rewards are expounded on further in verses 16:30-31.
Refer to Exegesis for a few possible meanings for verse 35. Note that these different interpretations do not make any difference to the general meaning of the verse: forgiveness of all sins and reward for all good deeds.
Remittance of sins is mentioned before payment of rewards. This could be because: 1. Avoiding a loss is a higher priority than making a gain; or 2. As long as the impurities of sins have not been absolved, one does not have the capacity and preparation to receive and absorb rewards:
The heart is no place for two opposites to stay;
Angels don’t come in when devils are in their way.
It is noteworthy that the verse describes their evil deeds as what they did (in past tense), and their good deeds as what they used to do (in past continuous tense). There are two possible explanations for this difference: 1. The verse describes two stages of the life of the early Muslims: pre and post Islam. The first part of the verse concerns the evil deeds that they had committed before embracing Islam, and the second part concerns the good deeds that they committed later as Muslims. This interpretation corresponds directly to the ideas of bringing the truth and confirming it (verse 33), and also clarifies what is meant by the worst sin: polytheism. 2. It shows that their evil deeds (especially their worst and most major sins) were not something on which they persisted. Rather, they were slips and mistakes that happened once in a while. However, they were established in their good deeds such that these acts and virtues became second nature for them. This also justifies why their sins are remitted: because they did not insist on them; and why they are rewarded by the best of their deeds: because they had become part of their temperament, life, and being. It may also be said that their reward will be only according to those good deeds of theirs in which they were established. The second meaning is more applicable, and it incorporates the first one as well.
It is recommended to consult verses 42:22-24 for more insight into the verses discussed here, as there are many similarities.
[1] Tabrisi, 8/777.
[2] Mizan, 17/260.
[3] Alusi, 12/259.
[4] Ḥāfiẓ, ghazal 232.
[5] Tibyan, 9/27.